MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) - Switzerland may hold a new referendum on the nation’s immigration policy regarding the European Union, the country’s President Didier Burkhalter said Thursday in an interview with Swiss television, according to Reuters.
“It will be necessary for the people of Switzerland to vote again on what they want the future of the bilateral agreements to be … by the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017,” he stated, as quoted by the news agency.
Earlier this year, in February, Swiss nationals narrowly voted to introduce immigration quotas in a country where foreigners make up a quarter of the population. The measure aimed at curbing immigration caused a row between Switzerland and the European Union, its largest trading partner.
“The Swiss people decided. And we knew that they could decide one way or the other, on February 9. Now the situation is different, but the issue is the same,” the president Burkhalter.
His comments came after Switzerland and the European Union failed to reach compromise on the agreement that guarantees free movement of workers July 25, according to Reuters. The bloc declined to renegotiate the agreement in a move that could undermine other interdependent accords between the two.
